25 An Eye For An Eye
1. pages 517-518. Dear Roy: Excepting an occasional…Cheerio! Joe DeWyckoff to
Crandon, October 30, 1926. From the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
2. page 518. According to the certificate of death... Harry Houdini’s “Certificate Of
Death – No. 14840” (Michigan: Department of Health), October 31, 1926. Facsimile in
the Doyle collection of the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin.
3. page 518. the magician was a “sick man” upon his arrival “New Angle In Houdini
Case”, unidentified newspaper clipping found in the Don Bell archives.
4. page 519. “I must get him out of here…” Ibid.
5. page 519. “I am not sure but that I shall have…” Transcript of Margery seance on
October 31, 1926 in the collection of the American Society for Psychical Research, New
York. Cited in the Silverman files in the Houdini Historical Center at the Outagamie
Museum, Appleton, Wisconsin.
6. page 519. “We are sorry to hear…” “Wizard Houdini Is Dead”, Boston Post,
November 1, 1926. From the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
7. page 519. “emphatically…” “Body Of Houdini To Arrive To-Day”, The World,
November 2, 1926. Clipping in David Copperfield’s International Museum and Library
of the Conjuring Arts.
8. page 519. “Do send me some details…” Tillyard to Crandon, December 12, 1926.
From the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
9. pages 519-520. “It is true that a McGill…That is all.” Crandon to Tillyard, January
27, 1927. From the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
10. page 520. “His death is a great shock…” “Houdini’s Body Gets Here Today”, New
York Times, November 2, 1926.
11. page 520. “so much more dangerous…” Bess to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
December 16, 1926. Letter in the collection of the Harry Ransom Center, University of
Texas at Austin.
12. page 521. “expediting the demise…” M. Lamar Keene, The Psychic Mafia : The
True and Shocking Confessions of a Famous Medium (New York : St. Martin’s Press,
1976), 156.
13. page 521. “attempted homicide” William V. Raucher, The Houdini Code Mystery: A
Spirit Secret Solved (California: Mike Caveny’s Magic Words, 2000), 108. 14. page 521. “He made a mistake in bucking…” “Books Hold Houdini Secrets”,
unidentified newspaper clipping, November 3, 1926, in the Harvard Theatre Collection in
the Pusey Library, Harvard University.
15. page 521. “will get his deserts…” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Crandon, November
1. From the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
16. page 522. “His death was most certainly…” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Fulton
Oursler, no date, letter in the Oursler collection of the Georgetown University Library,
Washington, D.C.
17. page 522. “The spirit world might well…” Ibid.
18. page 522. “He was not a man who…” Personal communication from Eric Dingwall
to James Randi.
19. page 522. “The mistakes of Houdini…” Walter Franklin Prince, The Enchanted
Boundary: Being A Survey of Negative Reactions to Claims of Psychic Phenomena 1820-
1930. (Boston: Boston Society for Psychic Research, 1930), 153.
20. pages 522-523. “He is a man who has never…in his library.” From “Harvard
Group Documents” at the American Society for Psychical Research, N.Y., cited in the Silverman files in the Houdini Historical Center at the Outagamie Museum, Appleton,
Wisconsin.
21. page 523. “Dr. Crandon…was a supreme…to your father.” John Crandon to
Mary Ann, October 25, no date, from the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
22. page 523. “If he had carried out his test…” The threat was reported, curiously enough, in a pro-Margery camp report entitled “The Anti-Margery Polemic of 1926-
1927” by English psychic researcher F. Bligh Bond. Bond’s sucking up to the Margery camp worked and he was given a position with the ASPR. The fascinating document can be found in the Harry Price collection at the University of London library.
23. page 523. Dr. Crandon and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle... Personal communication from John Crandon to his daughter, Anna Thurlow.
24. page 524. “the poor little fellow had adenoids… children and murdered them!”
Eleonor B. Hoffman, Confidential Report on ‘Margery’ Crandon (B.S.P.R. Secretary:
1932-1933), from the archives of Thomas Tietze.
25. page 524. “Concerning that blessed boy…” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Crandon, no date. From the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
26. page 524. “whole rack of pictures of little children…” Eleanor B. Hoffman,
Confidential Report on ‘Margery’ Crandon (B.S.P.R. Secretary : 1932-1933), from the
files of Thomas Tietze.
27. page 524. King’s secret interest... “Mackenzie King and Spiritualism” from the online resource “The Diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King” in the collection of the
Library and Archives of Canada,
http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/king/053201/053201130208_e.html.
28. page 524. “a man long interested and active…” Crandon to Harry Price, May 20,
1929. From the Harry Price collection in the University of London library.
29. page 525. Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead was the son... “The Man Who Punched
Houdini – Part II”, p. 9, manuscript by Don Bell in the Bell archives. The information is also in Don Bell, The Man Who Killed Houdini (Draft Version), contained in the Don
Bell archives.
30. page 525. Whitehead’s deposition J. Gordon Whitehead affidavit, “In The Matter
Of, The Estate Harry Houdini Against The New York Life Insurance Company”, March
16, 1927. Copy in the Don Bell archives.
31. pages 526-527. “He possessed…sweetest of men.” Milbourne Christopher,
Houdini: The Untold Story (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1969), 262.
32. page 527. “Starting out as a magician…” “Tributes To Houdini”, The Billboard,
November 13, 1926, 43.
33. page 527. “His death removes a great artist…” Ibid.
34. page 528. “Houdini was the greatest…knowledge of people.” “Friends Passed On”
by Will Rogers, The Washington Post, November 21, 1926, 8.
35. page 528. “Harry Houdini was a picturesque…” “Tributes To Houdini”, The
Billboard, November 13, 1926, 43.
36. page 529. “he fell heir to certain…” “Hardeen Threatened; Asks Bodyguard”, unidentified 1927 article from The Billboard. Clipping in the collection of George Daily.
37. page 529. “To Harry Day from his…” “Painting Given By Houdini Slashed In
English Robbery”, The New York Times, June 23, 1927.
38. page 529. “This is the man… You are revenged!” Handwritten note by E.
Dingwall on newspaper clipping, “£7,000 Robbery At M.P.s Flat”, London Star, June 22,
1927. From the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
39. page 530. Dear Sir Arthur...L.R.G. Crandon, M.D. Crandon to Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, July 6, 1927. From the collection of Ricky Jay. A copy can also be found in the
Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
40. page 530. his Brooklyn home had been broken... “Houdini Magic Stolen; Blame
Stage Rivals”, unidentified August 16, 1927 newspaper clipping in the collection of the
Library of Congress. See also “Secrets Of Houdini Sought By Thieves”, New York
Times, August 16, 1927, and “Secrets of Houdini Sought by Thieves; Hardeen Tells
Police Home Was Searched”, The Billboard, August 27, 1927, clipping in the collection
of George Daily.
41. page 531. “incidentally almost burnt his residence…” “Harpings From Hayman –
Hollywood”, The Conjurors’ Magazine, January 1946, 14.
42. page 531. “I spoke to several people…” Carrington to Hutchinson, June 7, 1934.
From the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
43. page 531. “I do not believe…” F.L. Black to Quincy Kilby, November 9, 1926.
Letter in the Quincy Kilby scrapbook in the Boston Public Library.
44. page 531. Bess made appointments... Milbourne Christopher, Houdini: The Untold
Story (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1969), 265. The story of Bess making appointments and spurning the women and sending them off with their love letters is from an unidentified article named “‘Stunt’ From Grave By Houdini is Bared”, clipping
in the Silverman files in the Houdini Historical Center at the Outagamie Museum,
Appleton, Wisconsin. The newspaper article makes the dubious claim that Bess finding the letters was part of a practical joke that Houdini had played on her from the grave, claiming that he had marked the box ‘Do Not Open’ and inside had planted a note that said, “Ha, ha, I knew you would.”
45. page 532. “she called in a junk man…” William Frazee to Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, September 18, 1927. Letter in the Doyle collection at the Harry Ransom Center,
University of Texas at Austin.
46. page 532. “Hilliar, there is our code…” “Is Harry Houdini Trying To
Communicate With Me?” by William J. Hilliar, fourth of a fourteen-installment series in
The Billboard, published after Houdini’s death. Undated clipping in the Egyptian Hall
Houdini Scrapbook in the collection of George Daily.
47. page 533. “Something happened to me in my room…” Gysel to Oursler, citation
from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Houdini – The Enigma. A Study. (typescript version), in
the Doyle collection of the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin. The
published article appeared in the August and September issue of the Strand Magazine,
1927.
48. page 533. “Tussle with death…” “See some of my friends…” “Says Houdini Sent
Word From Beyond”, New York Times, November 23, 1926.
49. page 533. “God is truth…” “Houdini To Lift Veil?”, Los Angeles Times, November
23, 1926.
50. page 533. “Houdini was an unusually…” “Says Houdini Sent Word From
Beyond”, New York Times, November 23, 1926.
51. page 533. “Before he died he promised…” “Mrs. Houdini Waits Daily For Sign”,
N.Y. Evening Journal, December 2, 1926, facsimile printed in Patrick Culliton, Houdini
Unlocked, book one, the Tao of Houdini (Kieran Press & Peter C. Mayer Rare Editions,
Ltd., 1997), 296.
52. page 533. “false and ridiculous” “Skeptical Of Houdini Talk”, Worcester Telegram,
December 1, 1926. Clipping in the Libbet Crandon de Malamud Collection.
53. page 534. “Surely, our beloved God will let…” Bernard M.L. Ernst and Hereward
Carrington, Houdini And Conan Doyle (New York : Albert and Charles Boni, Inc., 1932),
210.
54. page 534. “I am most thankful that you…” Ibid, 218.
55. page 534. “all spiritualistic phenomena stand…” “Thurston Upsets Spiritualism”,
The New York Times, October 10, 1927, cited in Joseph Rinn, Sixty Years Of Psychical
Research (New York: Truth Seeker Company, 1950), 527.
56. page 535. “I should like to send a message…” Bernard M.L. Ernst and Hereward
Carrington, Houdini And Conan Doyle (New York : Albert and Charles Boni, Inc., 1932),
223.
57. page 535. “the Indian looked for a hot fire.” Milbourne Christopher, Houdini: The
Untold Story (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1969), 266.
58. page 535. “I wish you…”, “I think the mirror…convinced of that.” Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle to Bess, February 12. Letter in the Doyle collection of the Harry Ransom
Center, University of Texas at Austin.